Perez took over as Cleveland's No. 1 catcher in 2019 and didn't disappoint, providing elite defense behind the dish while enjoying a breakout season offensively. The backstop played in a career-high 118 games and led the majors with 29 defensive runs saved, thanks in part to his zero passed balls and 41 percent caught stealing rate. On the offensive side of things, Perez's 24 home runs -- which exceeded his output (21) from his previous five big-league seasons combined -- tied for fifth-most among catchers, while his 63 RBI tied for ninth-most. His batted-ball profile suggests the uptick in power is at least somewhat sustainable (6.5% barrels/PA), though he remains a batting average risk (.222 expected average in 2019 per Statcast) thanks to his 28.3 K%. Perez underwent offseason ankle surgery but is expected to be ready for the start of the 2020 season and should be in line for another large workload. Read Past Outlooks

$Signed a four-year, $9 million contract extension with the Indians in April of 2017. Contract includes $5.5 million team option ($450,000 buyout) for 2021 and $7 million team option ($450,000 buyout) for 2022.

Sluggish in spring training

CCleveland Indians

March 23, 2020

Perez finished with a .176/.222/.176 slash line and two RBI over 18 plate appearances in spring training.

ANALYSISPerez registered just three hits in 17 at-bats this spring, striking out four times over that stretch. Despite this, he's on track to begin the 2020 season as the team's starting backstop, with Sandy Leon likely to stand in as the backup catcher on Perez's occasional off days.

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K

Walk to strikeout ratio

BB Rate

The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.

K Rate

The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.

BABIP

Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.

On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.

SLG

Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.

OPS

On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

wOBA

Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.

Exit Velocity

The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.

Hard Hit Rate

A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.

Barrels/PA

The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.

Todd Zola takes a deep dive into average exit velocity on flyballs and discovers that Gio Urshela's power display last year may not have been fueled by luck after all.

Past Fantasy Outlooks

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

Perez hasn't hit north of .230 since 2014, he's been a league-average offensive contributor only once in his career (2015) and has only twice played more in than 70 games. He struck out a whopping 33.3% of the time last season, largely negating a strong 10.0% walk rate. Perhaps he was hampered by injuries more than the public was led to believe, as he injured both his hand and shoulder in 2018 but never hit the disabled list. There's a chance that bad luck played a part, as the backstop produced his best hard-hit rate last season (40.7%). Yan Gomes and Francisco Mejia are gone, but the Indians brought in Kevin Plawecki in January. The two may split the workload fairly evenly, leaving neither with much mixed-league appeal.

Perez continues to work in tandem with Yan Gomes as the Indians' preferred duo behind the plate, and things could remain that way for another year if the organization's desire to move Francisco Mejia away from the catcher spot continues to materialize. As part-time catchers go, Perez is slightly more interesting than some of the alternatives thanks to his ability to occasionally barrel up a pitch and drive a ball out of the park, but he's a career .216/.309/.362 hitter who seems unlikely to thrive if injuries created an opportunity for him to take on a larger role. That said, his defense is good enough that he could push for more playing time, particularly if Gomes continues to struggle at the plate. The quality of the lineup around him in Cleveland might be good enough to make him a passable second catcher for AL-only league players, but that's likely the extent of his value to fantasy players at the present time.

A broken thumb sustained on a tag in his fourth game of the season cost him almost the entire first half, and the results at the plate suggest that the thumb was a nagging issue after Perez returned immediately following the All-Star break. He was the primary backstop for Cleveland despite the offensive woes, as Perez started 47 of 67 games down the stretch. He will likely reprise his previous role as caddy to incumbent starting catcher Yan Gomes, whose own injury issues could open up a larger window for Perez's playing time at some point this season. Cleveland hopes an offseason of rest and rehabilitation will allow Perez to at least recoup some of the patience that went missing last season. Still, it's not a bad return for the 33rd-round pick that Cleveland invested in the 2008 draft in order to secure Perez's services. There's still a hint of power here that'll at least keep him on a watch list for players in two-catcher leagues.

Perez got a nice bump in playing time when starting catcher Yan Gomes suffered a knee injury in mid-April, finishing the season with a .228/.348/.402 line and hitting seven homers in 70 games for the Indians. He's never hit for much power in the minors (.710 OPS with 22 homers in 514 games) but did manage to hit eight in 209 plate appearances at Triple-A Columbus in 2014 so perhaps the power spike is legit. He's good enough defensively to warrant the occasional start and the added power, if it sticks, gives him a leg up on most reserves in deeper formats. Gomes had a disappointing season at the plate but Perez is of no threat to unseat him for the starting role so he'll be back as Gomes' backup again in 2016.

Although Perez did little with his limited opportunies in his reserve role behind Yan Gomes after his promotion in July, slashing .271/.311/.365 with one homer in 29 games, he flashed some promise in 53 games with Triple-A Columbus to begin the year. A 33rd-round pick in 2008, he hit .305/.405/.517 with eight homers while at Columbus, doubling his home run total from his previous two years combined, while adding 43 RBI and 29 walks. He also played above-average defense behind the plate, but strikeouts have been a major issue at each level (27.4% with the big club last season) and his .378 BABIP seems like an anomoly given his relatively low numbers in past years. Regardless, Carlos Santana's catching days are seemingly over, and Perez appears primed to spend 2015 as the full-time backup, with Tony Walters the only other catcher currently on the 40-man roster.

More Fantasy News

Officially starting Saturday

CCleveland Indians

February 29, 2020

Perez (ankle) is in the starting lineup for Saturday's spring training game against the Athletics, batting second.